Community

Warriors have always had a deep connection with their Oakland fans

Community

Warriors have always had a deep connection with their Oakland fans

The Warriors have taken great pride in reaching out to the community over the years. One afternoon in 1978, at Marine World/Africa USA in Redwood City, you could take that literally.

A long reach was needed when one of the park’s show dolphins, by the name of Dr. Spock, swallowed a large metal bolt that had fallen off a pipe. The park’s on-hand veterinarian tried putting his hand down the dolphin’s throat, but no luck, and there were fears that some type of surgery would be required.

In a stroke of genius, park officials contacted the Warriors’ Clifford Ray, the exceptionally long-armed, 6-foot-9 center of the 1975 championship team. The task was complicated; Ray had to be instructed exactly how to proceed. He was told he’d have three minutes, with two attendants holding Dr. Spock’s mouth open, before the dolphin would require a clear throat to breathe. Right around the 2:56 mark, Ray was able to grab the bolt and pull it out.

On Feb. 24, 1978, Warriors center Clifford Ray was called in before a road trip to use his long reach to remove a large bolt from the gullet of a dolphin at Marine World Africa USA in Redwood City. Ray said the dolphin, named Dr. Spock, would recognize him afterward and “come right up to me.”

(Associated Press 1978 | San Francisco Chronicle)

This was a great moment. About two months later, a baby tiger at the theme park was named Clifford Ray in honor of the occasion. And it’s a funny thing, Ray said later. Every time he went to Marine World, Dr. Spock would recognize him. Without any provocation, “He’d come right up to me.”

Such is life in the community when Warriors come to the rescue. For the most part, their contributions lean toward the spiritual and the emotional. And there have been many, over the years, in Oakland.

To address a long-standing debate: There are pockets of East Bay fans who claim the Warriors have summarily rejected Oakland. The team never had an Oakland handle or put the name on a uniform. In November 2017, the Warriors unveiled “The Town” jerseys, featuring the city’s official tree symbol — Oakland once was inhabited by a large forest of oak trees — to be worn in selected regular-season games. Some were not appeased, protesting that the Warriors have never embraced the town.

Over great expanses of the community, such claims will not fly. Uniforms aside, the Warriors have made a consistently dedicated commitment to kids, schools, youth groups, charitable organizations and disaster-relief funds for years. Mayor Libby Schaaf, a lifelong Oaklander, has seen much of it firsthand.

“They’re not just our hometown heroes and world champions, but they have gone deep into our community,” she said by telephone. “So many teams and players go through national charities and leave it at that. The Warriors have always taken the time to really learn who’s doing work on the ground, especially with our young people. Their group (the Warriors Community Foundation) has set the standard for community service, and over the last three seasons, they’ve awarded $5 million in grants to support education and under-served youth. And that doesn’t include the tens of thousands of tickets they’ve given away to local schools. Just phenomenal.”

In her way, Schaaf echoed the words of Gov. Jerry Brown, who lived in a downtown loft as Oakland’s mayor from 1999 through 2007. Those were largely down years for the Warriors, but Brown felt the city and the team were kindred spirits as he worked on improving the quality of Oakland’s schools, residential areas and lifestyle. “Oakland is an all-American city,” Brown said recently, “and the Warriors — in good times and bad — exemplified the best of that spirit.”

The Warriors’ patron saint in community service is Adonal Foyle, who had something of a nondescript playing career — no treat for Golden State fans, because he was drafted one slot ahead of future Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady — but has served as the team’s community relations ambassador since his retirement in 2009. Highly educated with a knack for personal interaction, Foyle founded Democracy Matters, a nonpartisan organization that gets college students interested in politics, and the Kerosene Lamp Foundation, which helps at-risk youth.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr arrives to read to students at Longfellow Elementary School in San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2014.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr arrives to read to students at Longfellow Elementary School in San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2014.

Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle 2014

Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle 2014

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Warriors head coach Steve Kerr arrives to read to students at Longfellow Elementary School in San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2014.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr arrives to read to students at Longfellow Elementary School in San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2014.

Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle 2014

Warriors have always had a deep connection with their Oakland fans

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Then there’s Stephen Curry, who brings the invaluable element of superstardom to the mix. He’s hardly an everyman, but with his slight build and back story — rising to showy stardom in the face of widespread skepticism — he is the man. Kids flock to his side just to say they got close, or shake his hand. “It’s hard to believe someone with that much talent and fame would be so authentic and humble,” Schaaf said. “He’s such a devoted father, the way he brought Riley (his oldest daughter, now 6) to all those press conferences, and he’s the husband of a very accomplished woman (Ayesha) in her own right. I think all these things endear us to him.”

In January 2017, the Warriors joined the A’s and Raiders in fundraising efforts for the victims of the Ghost Ship fire, a nightmarish blaze that claimed 36 lives. It was the deadliest fire in Oakland history, and each team pledged $50,000 to the cause. Led by Curry, Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green and Shaun Livingston, the Warriors announced they would contribute an extra $75,000 — and Curry took it a step further, raising more than $45,000 by auctioning off autographed, game-worn shoes.

Does it often seem that Curry is in several places at once? Speaking engagements, rounds of golf, attending major sporting events whenever possible — his is a rich, admirable life. But he sets aside days for kids from across the country to attend a Warriors practice and game for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He is involved with NBA Math Hoops, dedicated to improve math literacy among urban youth. And the Currys regularly partner with Feed the Children, an international hunger-relief organization that won’t forget the day in December 2016 when Curry provided holiday meals for some 1,200 Bay Area families.

Curry is hardly alone in his desire to really feel Oakland. Before the wave of gentrification hit downtown, the Warriors set up the team’s rookies in apartments in a gritty part of town, just blocks from their practice facility. Harrison Barnes was among them, in 2012, and he fell in love with the city. As a year-round resident, he began telling his San Francisco friends, “There’s great food in Oakland,” rattling off some of his favorites: Belly, Burma Superstar, Mua, Lois the Pie Queen, Brown Sugar Kitchen.

It’s a particularly fine day when the Warriors descend upon the community en masse. Ajay Relan, founder of the nonprofit Hashtag Lunchbag, recalled a day when the entire team, including coaches and staff members, participated in an event at Oakland Marriott City Center, complete with personalized, handwritten notes from the players to kids and families. The day after Game 2 of the 2017 NBA Finals, several players and staffers joined Oakland city officials to open an NBA Cares Learn & Play Zone at Westlake Middle School in Oakland. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was there, along with Schaaf, owner Joe Lacob, several players and general manager Bob Myers, who told the kids, “I didn’t think I’d be general manager of the Warriors, so there’s no reason you guys can’t do that, too.”

A Warriors spokesman told of “hosting sick children after practice in Oakland on many, many occasions. We receive literally hundreds of requests from parents with ailing kids who want to meet the players. Our guys have been so gracious with their time, and Coach Kerr always welcomes them to watch practice and chat with the players. I don’t think he has ever said no to such a request.”

On top of it all, out of the 505 players on NBA rosters, Kevin Durant won the NBA Cares Community Assist award for this past season, honoring the most community-minded player in the league. Among other endeavors, the Kevin Durant Foundation renovated multiple courts at Oakland’s Lincoln Square Recreation Center in May 2017.

There’s a soundtrack to Warriors basketball, dating back to their East Bay beginnings, and it’s decidedly local. From Tower of Power and the Pointer Sisters to Sheila E. and MC Hammer, Oakland-based musicians have identified strongly with the game. On the contemporary scene, the connection has reached an all-time high.

Hip-hop artist Mistah Fab has been a fan since the Run TMC days, and he’s a regular at the arena. The Warriors produced a video featuring him at Game 1 of the 2017 Western Conference finals against San Antonio — a dramatic comeback from a 25-point deficit — and at the game’s bleakest point, Mistah Fab is shown rising from his front-row seat and shouting, “Adversity! How do we respond?” At the end of the game, he looked into the camera and declared, “This is where legacies are protected — this is where history is made.”

Another regular, rapper G-Eazy, peformed at halftime of Game 1 during the 2016 Finals and centered a re-mix of his hit song “Random” on the Warriors. A sample:

It’s our league and we do what we like to

No team is ready when we slide through

If you forgot we got it I’ll remind you

Cause we got what they got I’m talkin’ times two

Rapper Too Short performs at a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Warriors at Oracle Arena on April 6, 2011.

(Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images 2011 | San Francisco Chronicle)

Then there is Too Short, who played the drums in the band at Oakland’s Fremont High School and has performed alongside the Warriors Dance Team on many occasions. “What I really like about the Warrior Nation is that when we didn’t have great teams, the fans always just stuck there,” he said when interviewed on Warriors video after the 2015 championship. “I remember just going to games to watch Michael Jordan play, or Kobe Bryant and Shaq (O’Neal) when they played together.

“You knew the Warriors weren’t going to win, but we still supported the team, and it was still a sold-out crowd. So to see the evolution, over the 25 years I’ve been a fan, it was great to see the city celebrate. We were takin’ bets during the playoffs, and if the Warriors went all the way, would this parade be in Oakland? I’m glad it was.”

The heartbeat of Oakland’s inner-city basketball can be traced to the East Oakland Youth Development Center, in the shadow of Oracle Arena and a haven for so many local greats — Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Damian Lillard, Brian Shaw and Leon Powe among them — as they grew up. The Warriors have a 25-year relationship with the program, and “they have redefined the way a premier team should engage with the community,” said president and CEO Regina Jackson.

“This is the most dangerous part of town,” she said. “We’re dealing with gang violence, homicide, sex trafficking, drugs, and a high number of homeless who have moved into East Oakland. With all of that surrounding our young people and families, the Warriors give them a chance to meet their heroes. We still talk about the day Chris Webber dropped in and shot one right into the hoop from just inside the door. When Steph Curry won the 2015 MVP and was given a brand new car (a Kia Sorento), he wanted us to have it — nicest car on the block. Back in March, at our Satellite Media Day, Steph walked in at 7 a.m., no bodyguard, then went around the gym to make sure all the kids were OK — like he was their water boy! And the kids were like, ‘Is this real?’”

Thanks to the Warriors, that gymnasium makes for a very cool hang. “When we finished a big renovation of our building two years ago, we had no money to refurbish the gym,” Jackson said, “so the Warriors stepped in to finance it — exactly how we wanted the place to look. And just when you thought things couldn’t get better, they joined in a Beyond the Baseline partnership with Nike to create some pipeline programming for middle-school kids. Every kid around here wants to be an NBA player, even the girls, and they’d do anything to be somehow connected with it. So the Warriors set up workshops for kids to learn about being a trainer, a journalist, a shoe designer, a photographer. It’s remarkable to see them so eager to understand the psyche of a middle schooler. It is absolutely precious.”

Jackson has lived in Oakland for 50 years. When the Warriors come up with tickets, which is often, “it’s like driving around the corner” to get her East Oakland Youth Development Center kids into Oracle Arena. That’s about to change, with the team’s move to San Francisco.

“I’m sad, and I’m mad,” she said, softly. “Oracle, that’s our Wizard of Oz, our Emerald City, right in our backyard. I don’t want them to leave Oakland. I believe their hearts are here. I know they’ll always have a presence with us, but there’s a big difference between staying in the neighborhood and maybe a two-hour hike to get our kids to a game.

“I don’t know what I’ll do with myself. But we’ve had such a time. I guess the best thing to do is revel in our history, the memories. And say we were the lucky ones.”